Envelope for machine knitting needles



Dec. 26, 1961 J. F. M GRANE ENVELOPE FOR MACHINE KNITTING NEEDLES Filed April 5, 1956 FIG. 2

JOHN E M6 GRA/VE INVENTOR ATTORNEYS nitecl States Patent 3,014,582 ENVELOPE FOR MACHINE KNITTING NEEDLES John F. McGrane, Torrington, Conn., assignor to The Torrington Company, Torrington, Conn., a corporation of Maine Filed Apr. 5, 1956, Ser. No. 576,356 1 Claim. (Cl. 206-66) The specification which follows describes in detail a novel and useful envelope for machine knitting needles.

Machine knitting needles present an unusual problem in packing and dispensing.

Such a needle consists of a hook, a cheek carrying a latch and a butt in the form of a right angled extension by which it is mounted in the knitting machine. Such needles are sold in packages in quantities, such as fifty in a package. To hold such needles compactly and in orderly arrangement requires special facilities. Unless so maintained, the needles and their latches may become entangled and difficult to abstract singly. They are also subject to being soiled and corroded in handling.

One of the objects of this invention is to provide an improved envelope in which a considerable quantity of knitting machine needles can be held in orderly arrangement subject to removal singly.

A further object of the invention is to provide such an envelope which will hold the needles in the desired original position even when a considerable quantity has been withdrawn for use.

A still further object of the invention is to protect such needles from dust, moisture and the likelihood of being corroded by perspiration during handling.

One of the objects of the invention is to hold the needles in orderly arrangement so that their hooks and/or latches will not become tangled.

Among the objects of my invention is to present the needles in orderly arrangement and parallelism so that the removal of a single needle at a time is facilitated without disturbing the remainder.

Other and further objects of my invention will be readily apparent in the fol-lowing description of the preferred form of the invention as illustrated in the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a front view of the improved envelope for knitting machine needles;

FIG. 2 is a side view and FIG. 3 is a front view of the blank from which the envelope is made.

The advantages of the improved envelope consist, gen erally speaking, in providing a long, narrow envelope in which a quantity of knitting machine needles are held side by side with the butt ends exposed at the top. These butt ends are held in a forward direction by a pair of opposite tabs. These tabs being integral with the sheet material of the envelope and slightly resilient are forced back by the assembled butts and take positions on the outer sides of the latter. The resilience of the tabs is such as to keep the but-ts lined up in contact even when the number is reduced by withdrawal of single needles at a time. A cover or hood is also provided which will fold down over the top of the envelope and thus protect the butts of the needles. By cutting away portions of the envelope, the removal of individual needles is made easy, but the remainder protected against dust or rusting by contact with the operators finger.

The drawings illustrate the preferred form of the invention in which the blank 4 of paper or like material is used. This paper is of the well known type which has a glazed surface. It has a definite degree of resilience which is utilized in this envelope.

The blank is scored as indicated by the dotted lines in FIG. 3 to facilitate folding into the form of an envelope.

The right hand side flap 5 is folded inwardly across the back of the blank along the adjacent dotted line. The opposite left hand side flap 6 is folded inwardly over the back of the blank and the side flap 5.

The flap 6 is wider than fiap 5. Flap 6 is substantially the width of the back panel of the blank, so that the edge of side flap 6 overlies the opposite side edge of the envelope as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

Side flap 6 is sealed by adhesive along the side edge of the flap 5 to hold the parts securely in place.

A bottom flap 7 is folded up over flap 6 in the manner shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 and sealed in place. This forms an envelope which may be opened by pressure on the side edges lifting flap 5 from the back portion.

Each side flap 5 and 6 is cut away near the top in a semi-circle 8 and 9 respectively. In the final form these cut-out portions jointly form an opening 10.

The upper corners of the flaps 5 and 6 are cut back part of the distance to form tabs 11, 11. These normally lie flat in the plane of the side flaps 5 and 6. However, they are sufiiciently flexible to be pushed up by the butts of the needles 12 as the latter are inserted, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. In this arrangement the tabs 11, 11 form up-standing cheek portions which readily hold the needles in place. This leaves an opening 10 through which one can use a finger to eject a single needle at a time.

Flap 6 has a transverse slot 13. This lies in the center of the flap as shown in FIG. 1. A cover or hood 14 is folded over the needles and has a tongue 15 which may be inserted in slot 13 to complete the packaging of the needles.

The envelope above described readily receives a quantity of as many as fifty knitting machine needles. The hook ends of the needles are inserted first, and in the final position the butts of the needles 12 project forwardly as shown in FIG. 2. This displaces the tabs 11 so that they take the position indicated in FIG. 1.

By folding down the hood 14, the rear ends of the needles are completely protected.

Any one or a selected number of individual needles can be removed at a time without disturbing the orderly arrangement of the remaining needles. In this operation the tabs 11, 11 follow the outer needles inward toward the center by reason of their resilience. The needles are therefore maintained in parallel positions. They are not touched by the fingers except as one or more may be lifted out of the space provided by the opening 10.

This forms an effective, convenient and cheap arrangement for the purposes above described. It will, however, be understood that changes may be made in forms, proportions and material without departing from the scope of the invention as set out in the following claim.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Thomas May 21,

Woodward Nov. 16,

Lucas Apr. 8,

Waldes Sept. 20,

FOREIGN PATENTS Austria June 10, 

